Would Tottenham’s system have to change if Danny Rose followed Kyle Walker out of the club?

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Rather than looking forward to the new Premier League season, Tottenham Hotspur could be scrambling to restructure their previously devastating side.

Tottenham Hotspur fans must have thought they were past the days of selling their best players after consecutive top-three finishes in the Premier League.

Indeed, even the sale of Kyle Walker earlier this summer was far easier to take than the departures of Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric or Gareth Bale.

But Danny Rose’s comments to The Sun about his desire to earn more money, win trophies and play up north, combined with subsequent reports from Sky Sports that he could be interested in a move to Chelsea or Manchester United, must concern Spurs supporters.

Tottenham could perhaps have coped with losing right-back Walker, but to lose Rose too, their energetic defender-cum-winger on the other side, would come as a real blow.

Walker and Rose have been key to Spurs’ way of playing in recent seasons, with their running on either flank giving opposition defenders nightmares – and their attacking attributes on the break assisted further by a switch to a 3-4-3 formation last season.

Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies have been fine understudies to the England pair, but neither possess the pace of the first-choice duo that has been so crucial to Tottenham’s system – and Mauricio Pochettino seemed to acknowledge this as he only once started the two together as 3-4-3 wing-backs in the league last term.

This should have been a season where Pochettino looked to make a real assault on the Premier League title, but, with no new signings and star men on their way out, he could instead spend the coming months attempting to adjust his team to cover key absences.

Trippier and Davies teamed up in a four-man defence as Spurs stormed through the final weeks of the season, but that lack of speed on the flanks could become much more apparent in games where there is a greater pressure to deliver results and Pochettino’s side must look for another route through packed opposition back-lines.

As Rose continues his comeback from injury, Sunday’s clash with Newcastle United offers an early insight into what a side without both he and Walker would look like.